[Footnote 6: Relating to adjustment of claims to reservations of land
under the fourteenth article of the treaty of 1830 with the Choctaw
Indians.]
WASHINGTON, _December 21, 1837_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
last session, I transmit a report made to me by the architect of the
public buildings, with the accompanying documents, exhibiting a plan of
the Treasury building now in process of erection, showing its location
in reference to the adjacent streets and public square on which it is
located, its elevation, the number and size of the rooms it will afford
suitable for office business and the number and size of those suitable
only for the deposit of records, with a statement of the sum expended
on said building and an estimate of the sum that will be required to
complete the same. As the fifth section of the act of July 4, 1836,
under the authority of which this building has been commenced, provides
only for the erection of an edifice of such dimensions as may be
required for the present and future accommodation of the Treasury
Department, the size of the structure has been adapted to that purpose;
and it is not contemplated to appropriate any part of the building to
the use of any other Department. As it is understood, however, that the
plan of the edifice admits of its being completed either with or without
wings, and that if Congress should think proper accommodation may be
provided by means of wings consistently with the harmony of the original
design for the Department of State and the General Post-Office, it is
not thought that the public interest requires any change in the location
or plan, although it is believed that the convenience of the public
business would be promoted by including in the building the proposed
accommodations for the two other Departments just mentioned. The report
of the architect shows the supposed difference of the expense that would
be incurred in the event of the construction of the building with wings,
in taking down the edifice now occupied by the Department of State, or
repairing it so as to render it fireproof and make its outside conform
to the other parts of the new building.
I also transmit statements from the heads of the several Departments of
the number and size of the rooms that are necessary for their respective
Departments for office business and for the deposit of records.